Oh, Oedipus...

You so tragic!  
(Sorry..I left this incomplete without realizing it!)

Your assignment:  Find a parallel tragic hero in modern history, literature, movies, television,etc.

Complete a full, written sketch of your modern tragic hero.  Follow Aristotle's definition.  You have a chart(which we will discuss tomorrow) that very nicely illustrates these qualities.  The link is here .

Yeah, you can probably Google this.  You can find millions of professor-given examples online.  But c'mon, this isn't so hard.  Utilize your interests to get this done.  Me, I love celebrity gossip, so I'm likely to pick some sad starlet.  Or Steve Jobs.  Maybe.

Is anyone off-limits?  Of course.  Actual tragic heroes, from literature?  Off-limits.  And what constitutes modern, you may ask?  For me, it should be a figure that existed or was created anywhere from 1900 to the present.  That's a pretty big window.

This can't be emailed to me because I'd like it to be pretty.  I'd like a picture of your hero, surrounded by their Aristotlian, (is that a word?) tragic qualities.  You should be as specific as possible.  If every hero needs a flaw, for example, you should name that flaw.  Maybe even give an example of it in action.  If I was doing Steve Jobs(ahem...this another no-no for you guys), then I may say his flaw was his ego.  That ego was deadly, in fact, because it led to him believing he could cure his cancer without modern medicine, which, in turn, killed him.  Tragic stuff.

Here's my pathetic example...here

I only completed one of the six characteristics, but I hope you get the point.  Contact me at any point before the due date(January 2nd!)  if you have a question.

Rock out.

A Reminder

Please bring in all cards for the troops by tomorrow morning(prior to period 3).  Please make sure they are free of grammar, mechanic, and spelling errors and that your effort is evident.

Thanks for doing something kind this holiday season.

Sorry for the late post...

I just got home from dinner and was reading the Virginia Tech stuff...scary.

SO...here's the old test.  Sorry for the delay:   Old quiz 8

Speeches! Get your speeches here!

If you'd like a look at a sample narrative outline, here you are.  Sample

If you lost your outline format(due Monday) then it is also here: Outline Format

Remember, be honest, be yourself, and don't be nervous!

I will take volunteers on Monday.  We will not finish in one day.  In fact, we will probably spend most of the week getting these done.

My Steve Jobs obsession rears its ugly head...

Watch this video first

Then, answer the following questions:

1.  Explain why  Jobs calls dropping out, "one of the best decisions I ever made"? (His first story)


2.  Explain why Jobs calls being fired from Apple "one of the best things that ever happened" to him.(His second story)


3.  How has Jobs used his inevitable death as his daily motivation?  Explain.

By the way, at the end, when he claims he's "fine now," he's lying.  I'm sure this fact influenced his ruminations on death.

Your sample test...

Old Vocab. Test